Knight in Shining Armor

My senior prom dress was nothing special. I attended an all girls school my senior year and as such, almost none of my friends had dates and a big group of us agreed to go together. My mother wasn't super keen on shopping so my sister took me to the mall to find a prom dress. I ended up in a simple black halter dress that seemed like a "smart" purchase as I could wear it on other occasions outside of prom. In retrospect I wish I had gone for a more high fantasy and fun dress. That dress didn't really reflect my style or my interests; it was a practical purchase partially motivated by the fact it was on sale and we had a gift card to the store! Now I think if I went back to prom, even in a group date setting, I'd love a dramatic, high-fantasy, slightly ridiculous ball gown. I mean, how often do you have an excuse to dress up in an enormous tulle confection and dance wildly with your friends? Not often enough! Of course as a photographer you do occasionally get to invent excuses for dress up--hence today's photographs in this gorgeous Chotronette gown. I've never considered myself much of a "photoshoot photographer" so much as a blogger/self portrait photographer. I don't often go for fancy dresses and dramatic makeup because I tend to feel silly in the former and am rubbish at applying the latter, but it's good to shoot something fairytale inspired just for fun every once in awhile. Life is short, why not buy yourself a sword and run around your local castle? I'm still not a model and I could use some help with elaborate makeup, but I had a lot of fun creating these dramatic photographs in this dream Chotronette dress. I last wore one of their dresses back in the early spring in my "romance book cover" shoot (another wee dream brought to life through photographs). That dress was soft and pink and this time I was excited to create something a bit stronger and more regal with their Armour dress. It's so dramatic and beautifully detailed and perfect for every woman who wants something feminine, but bold. There's many legends of strong women in Celtic folklore and history from Boudicca who led an uprising against the Romans to Grace O'Malley the Pirate Queen of Clare Island. Even the stories of mermaids and sirens center on dangerous women who led sailors to their deaths with their pretty faces and powerful voices. We tend to think of fairytales as a whole in terms of knights or damsels in distress, but when you read the old tales there's many legends about powerful women who forged their own paths and needed no knight to save them.